NPC Interdiction question

I am trying to design different trading ship options and when I was hunting around I found some different information regarding the quality of the NPC's you face when interdicted. I have seen some fun builds for trading ships for "fighting off" NPC's, some focused on surviving long enough to escape and some focused on agility to more easily beat the interdiction game. But in the ones where they are designed to submit and then kill the NPC's (even knowing that is not optimal profit wise) the examples seem to be taking on relatively easy pirates. But in other threads I see people "constantly interdicted" by multiple deadly anacondas, which seems like you would need a real combat ship to kill, or would have to sacrifice a ton of cargo space to build for it.

So I sort of have a bunch of related questions:

1- Do the NPC's get harder as you rise in your trading rank? or any rank? What exactly controls what spawns? Do the number of pirates also increase?

2-Are the random pirate NPC's that I would see when trading (not running trading missions), ala buy low, transport, sell high DIFFERENT in strength, numbers or composition to NPCs sent against you when running missions?

3-What is the effective shield strength across all resistances that you would need to easily escape from random pirate interdictions? Would 1000 MJ be sufficient to last 40 seconds or so in any scenario?

4-Are the NPC's set against you when you are flying in your mining ship with your hold full of ore any different from pirates that come after you when you buy and transport goods?

Thanks!
 
NPCs will have higher rankings as your combat rating rises.

As far as shields, I try to strike a balance between kinetic/explosive/thermal. The ordinance that seems to be the most prevalent is thermal so my shields are biased for heat. My traders have Prismatics with thermal experimental effect, boosters also help, I fill my utility slots with them. Change things around until it fits what you want.

As far as different NPCs for different conditions, I don't find them much different.

Eventually, you will have your traders rigged to the point that you will look at interdictions just as a way to raise your bottom line.
 
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Npc’s that spawn for missions are usually tougher than random pirates. Much depends on rank, your combat and trade rank and (more importantly for missions) the mission ranking - take an Elite trade mission and you’re likely to get 1-4 Elite Anacondas come after you. Sometimes you’ll drop out of SC to take one on only to have another drop in.

I use a Type 10 with 6A prismatic shields, loads of shield boosters and turreted multi cannons (plus a missile rack for fun.) It will easily take down a couple of Anacondas dropping in on me but four in a row will leave my shields very low.
 
1.a. Your combat rank, security level of system and Shiptype you are flying give the pool of "random" npc spawning
1.b. mission npc are bound to mission rank - take an elite ranked trading missions, npc interdicting you will be high ranked (and mostly condas - see above).
2. yes.
3. 1000 mj - definetly. my trade python has much less. but generally - safety is not shieldstrength, but speed - if you ship can reach ~400 m/s and permaboost, you'll be totally save against npcs. beyond 440 m/s there is no rnpc that can keep up (outside of scenarios, conflictzones etc.).
4. no.
 
If you are not flying a Mission they are roughly matched to your rank but very easy to evade (probably not that easy on a fully loaded T9) the interdiction,if you submit it's even easier,don't waste time on fighting them,if instead you choose a Mission than it depends from the Mission level (Rank) wich is specified in the nores,Elite Missions can throw at you very though guys ;)
 
1000+ MJ should allow you to escape most encounters with mission interdiction ship atleast once with shields intact.

I can with my Type9 survive long enough with shields, to wait for the system authority to come and take the focus of the Pirate from me in a medium security system...
Evasive manouvers helps saving on your shields. Now Type 9 is a particular nimble ship, so take that into account.
And for me this is a Deadly Anaconda... I have combat rank Elite.

So my current type 9 shield are fro reference
Raw: 1246
Explosive: 3321
Kinetic: 2788
Thermal: 1384


Mission generated Pirates are way harder than random NPC pirates.
 
Randomly generated NPCs depend on two things: your Pilots Federation ratings, and the ship you are flying.

These pirate ships tend to size roughly proportionate to the ship you're flying. If you're flying an Anaconda-sized ship, they're likely to be in Anacondas too. If you're still in a Sidey, then the pirates are likely to be in Eagles or Cobras. Now, smaller ships can interdict and try to attack a larger ship, but rarely do large ships spawn to attack a small ship. NPCs aren't gankers.

The pirate skill rating is roughly equal to your own Pilots Federation rating. If you're Competent, then they will be Competent too, plus or minus one level. Note that the non-COmbat ratings also play a part; if you're Elite in Exploration and only Competent in Combat, then the random NPCs will be Elite minus 1 (Deadly).

Mission-generated NPCs, who follow you around as a result of you having a mission and appear as secondary mission objectives in follow-up messages from your mission-issuing faction, have a different rule-set.

Enemy ship types seem to correspond to the level of reward the mission offers; high-paying missions tend to send bigger, badder ships, with lower-paying missions sending smaller ships. The enemy pilot skill level is tied to the mission rating; if the mission says it recommends Elite pilots only should apply, then the enemies will be Deadly or Elite. The number of enemies seems to be random (at least, I have seen no particular pattern stand out here).

Of course, enemies stack if you stack missions. Accepting a dozen missions all to the same destination will likely see a half-dozen wings of enemies trying to simultaneously interdict you at that destination. People doing Robigo Runs, or Ceos-Sothis, or whatever the lastest mission-stacking craze is these days, will often see these multiple waves of enemies.
 
You can beat most NPC interdictions in the mini-game, so you don't have to worry about them. There are exceptions. If you use a T9 or Anaconda or other ship that turns slow in supercruise, you often lose the mini-game, so use the submit and boost method instead. You don't need strong shields. A medium one will be fine, but what you do need is the best thrusters and PD you can get. Don't fit weaons. Always travel with 4 pips to engines and 2 to shields. When the interdiction starts, go to zero throttle to submit. Boost the moment you drop out, boost again as soon as your PD lets you, then get your FSD charging to jump away. The first boost gets you enough distance that the interdictor's weapons can't do much damage, and your gone in seconds anyway.
 
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